Millionaire Lord Digby Jones defends allowances he claimed from Parliament
Lord Digby Jones has defended his record as a peer after it emerged he had clocked in to Parliament and claimed hundreds of pounds in allowances before leaving to give lucrative after-dinner speeches.
The former CBI director general was paid £2,400 for attending the House of Lords eight times in one month last year, as well as £634 in travel costs.
But according to financial records for 2015/16, on four of those occasions he claimed £300 for registering his attendance then left to give speeches elsewhere for tens of thousands of pounds.
Lord Jones, who served as an independent trade minister in Gordon Brown's government, did not make any speeches in the second chamber on the four days he delivered after-dinner speeches in June 2015.
The millionaire also gave after-dinner speeches in July 2015 on days when he claimed money for attending the Lords.
Lord Jones commands fees of between £10,000 and £25,000 for speeches, according to his profile on the website for JLA, Britain's top after-dinner speaking agency.
Defending his record in Parliament, he insisted that 'people want the Lords to do other things with their lives', adding that 'the nation gets the benefit of my experience'.
"It is often the case that I will be in the chamber on the same day that I am speaking at an event, either for a charity or for a fee, or attending a board meeting for one of my paid or unpaid roles," he said.
The attendance records and allowance claims of some peers have come under intense scrutiny in recent weeks.
Some are reported to claim up to £40,000 a year while making little or no contribution to debates, questions or committees.
Lord Paul, chairman of the Caparo group, last year received £40,800 in expenses for 136 days in Parliament, but contributed to four votes out of a possible 114.
He said his allowance claims were 'more than representative of the work he had done in Parliament.
Peers can claim up to £300 as a tax-free daily allowance when they attend the House and undertake Parliamentary work.
Baroness D'Souza, who stepped down as Lord Speaker earlier this year, has said that many peers 'contribute absolutely nothing'.
She revealed she once saw one peer keep a taxi waiting outside Parliament so he could rush inside to claim his £300 allowance.
